TWO independent parliamentary candidates have slammed a hustings event after they were not allowed to share a stage with representatives from the five main political parties.

Andy Kirkwood and Mervyn Stewkesbury, who are both standing as independent candidates in South Dorset in the upcoming election, were refused permission to take part in a hustings event in Swanage.

Instead, they were given five minutes at the end of the meeting to give a speech to the audience on why they were standing.

The hustings event, organised by the Churches Together in Swanage Group and the Swanage Senior Forum, was held at the Emmanuel Church Centre on Victoria Avenue.

The event saw Conservative candidate Richard Drax, Labour candidate Simon Bowkett, Liberal Democrat candidate Howard Legg, Ukip candidate Malcolm Shakesby and Green Party candidate Jane Burnet answer questions from the audience as they aimed to secure votes ahead of the General Election on May 7.

However, Mr Kirkwood and Mr Stewkesbury were denied the chance to share the stage with the candidates and answer questions from the audience, and have criticised the organisers of the hustings.

Speaking after the event, Mr Kirkwood said it was “frustrating” and “belittling” he was not able to take part, after being invited to all of the other hustings events in south Dorset.

Mr Kirkwood added: “I am obviously disappointed and dismayed with this turn of events after having paid my £500 deposit like all other candidates and funding the campaign from my own pocket this is an insulting slap in the face.

“The real losers of course are the public who are now denied the opportunity to assess all of their candidates."

Mr Stewkesbury added: “I would have been much happier if I could have addressed the audience at the beginning.

“I’m new at this but Andy Kirkwood isn’t and he has been teaching me a lot about it and when I was first told I was quite pleased I would speak at the end, but now I think it’s really unfair.”

When contacted by the Echo, Reverend Andrew Corke, who was the main organiser of the event, stressed there was no political bias in denying the two candidates a seat on the stage, and said he explained to the candidates in an email the reason he hadn’t invited them was because he didn’t want the event to become “messy” as there would be too many candidates on the stage.

The email to Mr Kirkwood, which Rev Corke also sent to the Echo, stated: “We believe the audience of local electors will want to hear from the representatives of the five main political parties who have an established track record of electoral success at local and Parliamentary and European elections.

“You (Mr Kirkwood) have no other candidates standing in the election. Mr Stewkesbury has not previously stood as far as we know and he is standing as an independent.”